The present invention relates to herbicide application systems and in particular to a wick type system adaptable to an all terrain vehicle (ATV).
During the growing cycle of row crops, it is desirable at various times to apply various plant treatment chemicals, such as herbicides, to kill fast growing weeds and other undesired plants that tend to shade, crowd or otherwise compete with the growth of the desired row crops. To ignore such plants results in less than optimum crop yields, but associated with any application system are considerations relative to the additional costs of the herbicide, application time and expenses associated therewith.
Various different application systems have been employed in the past for applying liquid chemicals via spray or contact methods, some examples of which can be seen upon reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 926,791; 3,257,753; 3,320,694; 4,019,278; and 4,208,835. More particularly and with respect to the present system, a wick application system has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,638. A wick application system is generally comprised of a tube-like reservoir that contains the liquid treatment chemicals as they are dispersed. A single wick or a number of wick segments are, in turn, spaced along the tube and mounted to the tube such that the wicks absorb the liquid chemicals and whereby the chemicals are applied to the undesired weed plants by contact therewith as the wicks pass thereover.
Typically, such a wick applicator as well as the various other application assemblies are conveyed relative to the row crops via ordinary farm tractors and hydraulically controlled support assemblies. Such a manner of conveyance is, however, rather costly in terms of time and gas consumption, in that the tractors have rather large engines and are not very maneuverable relative to the row crops, due to the wheel size and width and spacing between the row crops. Furthermore, such methods of application may create soil compaction problems, and the large vehicles are oftentimes hampered by wet soil conditions, such as are encountered during the spring, when it is most important to apply the herbicide.
The present invention, therefore, contemplates an improved application system that is adaptable to heretofore recreational all terrain vehicles, such as are manufactured by the various motorcycle and sport vehicle manufacturers. These vehicles are typically of the three wheel type, having engines of approximately 110 cc's, wheel displacements of approximately 43" and ground clearances of approximately 51/2". In particular, the present system is compatible with a Honda ATC 185, but it is to be recognized that various other 3 or 4 wheel ATV's may similarly be employed with or without some slight modification of the present apparatus. Such vehicles are highly maneuverable and since they weigh approximately only 200 to 400 pounds they present no soil compaction problems nor are they hindered by most wet soil conditions. Thus, the present system at a relatively nominal cost provides the farm operator greater equipment flexibility and more workable hours of field time.
The above objects, advantages and distinctions of the present invention as well as various others will, however, become more apparent upon a reading of the following description with respect to the following drawings. It is to be recognized though that the following description is illustrative only of the presently preferred embodiment and that still other embodiments and modifications thereto are contemplated.